Foreclosures might alter census count, agency says

By Amy Taxin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 14, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Foreclosures will make it tougher and more expensive to get an accurate census count next year as families move in with relatives or are left homeless, the Census Bureau's director said yesterday.

Director Robert Groves said he expects some of the census questionnaires mailed out in 2010 will land at empty homes in areas hard hit by the housing crisis. That means census workers will need to make more door-to-door visits to verify whether anyone lives at these addresses, and that costs more money.

“One absolutely unambiguous impact of the foreclosures is there's going to be more people knocking on doors. It's going to be more expensive to do that,â€